Teams to Help Japanese Earthquake Victims

Japan’s neighbors are coming to its assistance after a 8.9 magnitude earthquake devastated the Tohoku region on Friday.

South Korea has sent a rescue team to help with the relief efforts in Japan:

The five-member team together with two dogs and rescue equipments, is sent to Tokyo at the request of the Japanese government, Yonhap news agency reported Saturday.

Another 120 relief workers, medical personnel and three military transport planes are on standby to head for Japan, if more help is requested.

President Lee Myung-bak expressed sympathy and pledged full support to help the Japanese government to recover from the major undersea quake that triggered a vast tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.

Early on Saturday, Masatoshi Muto, Japan’s ambassador to South Korea, met First Vice Foreign Minister Park Seok-hwan in Seoul and thanked Seoul for its support in relief efforts, ministry officials said.

At the meeting, Park said the South Korean government will “do everything it can” to help Japan recover from the quake.

And China has done the same :

The team is made up of 15 members and is expected to arrive at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport three to four hours later by an Air China chartered plane.

Yin Guanghui, an official of the China Earthquake Administration and also head of the team, said that the team’s main task was to search for survivors.

The team brought with them four tonnes of materials and equipments for search and rescue as well as power supply and telecommunication services, Yin said.

Several other nations, including Australia, Great Britain, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States, are also sending rescue teams.